Method and apparatus for use in lasting shoes



Dec. 5, 1939. FAUSSE 2,182,491

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN LASTING SHOES Original Filed June 1, 1957 Patented Dec. 5, 1939 UNITED srArs OFF-ICE" METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN LASTING SHOES Joseph Fansse, Melrose, Mass, assignor, by mesne assignments, to ihe Littleway Process Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application .llunel, 1937, Serial No. 145,731 Renewed March 29, 1939 15 Claims.

lasting of prewelt shoes, particularly prewelt shoes the welted upper of which is provided with a portion which can be Worked over the insole and secured thereto, the portion thus constituting an insole-attaching flange. This lasting portion or attaching flange may be a portion of the welt, as disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,039,287, granted May 5, 1936, upon application of P. C; Arnold, or it may be an extension of the lining or upper or .both.

In lasting .the uppers of shoes of the type referred to, the upper is first assembled upon a last and the upper worked over the forepart. of the last to bring the plane of the attaching face of the welt into the plane of the bottom of the insole or, considering the shoe bottom .up, slightly above it, and the inwardly projecting lasting portion or attaching flange is temporarily secured to the bottom of the insole, this temporary securing being conveniently performed by providing a tacky cement between the flange and the insole. As a resultof this operation longitudinal tension is applied to the upper so that the portions of the upper at the shank of the shoe extendstraight across the inwardly curved portions of the last, this effect being more pronounced on the inner side of the shoe. It is difficult, therefore, to bring the shank portions of the upper into conformity with the sides of the last and to hold them in such conformity merely by cementing the lasting portion or flange to the insole since, when the conforming pressure is relieved, the cement may let go and the work have to be done over again. Accordingly, it is a feature of this invention to provide a method and means of obtaining and maintaining conforming pressure to hold the upper in conformity to the last at the shank.

portion of the shoe, so that the cement will be quite adequate to hold the lasting portion of the shoe in lasted relation to the insole either until the cement has had time to set or until fastenings have been inserted permanently to hold the upper in lasted position. As illustrated, after the upper at the forepart of the shoe has been worked into lasted position, a retaining device in the form of a U-shaped spring clip having inwardly directed ends is applied to the shoe with its ends engaging the shank portion of the upper at opposite sides of the last substantially in the welt crease. The ends of the spring clip have, of course, to be separated in applying the clip to the shoe, and the resiliency of the U-shaped clip causes the ends thereof to force the upper into conformity to the last on opposite sides of the 5 shoe so that when the lasting portion is stuck to the insole there will be very little tension on the upper tending to cause the cemented surfaces to separate. As illustrated, the clip is placed around the last with its ends againstthe shoulder 10 formed by the edge of a portion of the welt which is secured to the upper. When the clip is applied in this manner, free access is provided to the overlasted portion of the welt or upper so that permanent fastenings such as staples may be inserted through the lasted portion of theupper or welt and clinched in the substance of the insole.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a prewelt shoe with the forepart of the upper worked into lasted position and showing the unlasted condition of the upper at the shank portion of the shoe;

Fig. 2 is a view similar toFig. 1 after the application to the shoe of an upper-retaining clip'25 whereby. the upper at the shank portion is urged inwardly into contact with the side of the last;

Fig. 3 is a View showing the shoe and retaining clip in section and illustrating the operation of securing the upper in lasted position by means of curved staples; and r Fig. 4 is a sectional detail showing one manner of connecting the 'welt to the upper.

In lasting shoes of the prewelt type in which the upper is provided with a welt in accordance with the above-mentioned Arnold patent, one marginal portion of a welt H) is split into thirds, as shown in Fig. 4, the upper 12 being secured between two of the flapsfl' i, it thus formed and the third flap 18 being utilized to secure the upper in lasted position. The upper 12, provided with the welt Ill, is mounted upon a last 2%! of the same size as the upper, to the bottom of which last an insole 22 has been secured. The forepart of the upper is worked into lastedv relation to the iorepart of the last, as shown in Fig. 1, either by hand or by means of suitable machinery designed for the purpose. In this operation, the welt It is disposed with its attached face substantially in the plane of the bottom of the insole 22, and the fiapql8 which constitutes the lasting portion or insole-attaching flange is laid against the bottom of the insole and secured thereto, temporarily at least, with cement. After this operation the shoe presents the appearance shown in Fig. l in which the shank portions of the upper bridge the concave curvatures of the sides of the last at the shank portion and, since the welt and upper of a shoe of this type are usually of heavy material, the upper and welt at the shank portion present considerable resistance to being brought into conformity to the last and, if the upper and welt at the shank are forced into lasted position and the flap l8 cemented to the insole 22, the cement is g liable to let go after the pressure is released.

In accordance with my invention, after the forepart has been worked into lasted position, as shown in Fig. 1, a retaining clip 24, in the form of a U-shaped ribbon of spring steel with its ends suitably spaced from each other, has its ends sprung apart and placed in the welt crease of the shoe at the opposite sides of the shank portion, the resiliency of the clip when released serving to force, or assist in forcing, the upper and welt into lasted position at the shank portion of the shoe so that the flap l8 may be cemented to the insole, the action of the clip, so far reducing the reactive tendency of the welt and upper as to enable the cement to hold the upper in lasted position until permanently secured.

The clip 24 is preferably applied, as shown in Fig. 2, with its U-shaped portion extending about the last, since in this position free access is afforded for manipulating the lasting portion or attaching flange l8 of the upper and securing it in place. It is to be understood, however, that under certain conditions it may be desirable to apply the clip with its U-shaped portion above the inverted shoe, and it is also within the invention variously to modify the jaws or creaseengaging ends of the clip to adapt them for engaging the welt creases of different types of prewelt shoes and to adapt the clip for application to the shoe in either of the positions mentioned. As shown herein, the ends of the clip 24 are each provided with two fingers 26 which engage the outer face of the strip I ll substantially in the welt crease and with a ledge 28 formed by bending inwardly a portion of the metal between the fingers 26, which ledge engages the edge face of the strip l4 when applied to a prewelt shoe of the type illustrated. The ledge 28 prevents the contractive force of the clip from forcing the fingers 26 against the welt and causing it to be bent out of the plane of the shoe bottom, in which position it should be when the outsole is applied' After the clip has been applied and the flap l8 cemented to the insole at the forepart and shank, it is desirable in most cases permanently to secure the flap I8 to the insole 22. Since the clip 24 is portable with the last, this may conveniently be done by means of a curved staple machine organized, for example, as disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,815,297, granted July 21, 1931, upon an application of George Goddu. As illustrated in Fig. 3, a machine of this type may be provided with an abutment 30 to engage the outer or attaching face of the Welt Ill and with a thin roll 32 having a rounded periphery to engage the welt crease. The roll 32 is mounted for rotation on a fixed stud 34 and when a shoe lasted as illustrated in Fig. 2 and having a clip 24 thereon is presented to the machine, the welting is placed between the abutment 30 and the roll 32 and the shoe moved along, the shoe being thus presented to the staple driving instrumentalities of the machine so that staples 36 will be inserted through the flap I8 and into the insole 22, the staples being .curved as they are driven so that they become clinched in the insole without penetrating its inner surface. The abutment 3|] and roll 32, while affording suitable means for locating the shoe with respect to the staple driving instrumentalities, do not tend to distort the Welt or disturb its position with itsattaching face substantially in the plane of the insole.

The heel-seat portion of the shoe may be lasted in any usual manner, for example, the flap l8 and a counter stiffener 38 may be pressed down against the insole 22 and tacks driven as usual to hold them in lasted position. The shoe is now ready for the laying of an outsole, a small amount of filler being used if desired. The outsole will preferably be permanently attached by the usual outsole stitching extending through the welt and the outsole.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in methods of lasting prewelt shoes which consists in working the forepart of the upper into lasted position with respect to an insole upon a last, then yieldingly forcing the upper locally at the opposite sides of the shank portion into contact with the last by means portable with the last, and thereafter permanently securing theupper in lasted position by inserting fastenings through the upper and into the insole While the upper is still held by said portable means.

2. That improvement in methods of lasting prewelt shoes which consists in working the forepart of the upper into lasted relation to the forepart of an insole up'ona last, then applying a resilient retaining member to the shank portions only of the upper to hold such portions into conformity with the last at opposite sides of the shank. and thereafter securing the upper to the insole while said retaining member remains in operative position on the upper.

3. That improvement in methods of lasting prewelt shoes having insole-attaching flanges which comprises working the forepart of the upper into lasted relation to the forepart of an insole upon a last, then applying a spring clip having a form. adapted to embrace the shoe with its ends substantially in the welt crease to force the shank portions of the upper locally into lasted relation to the shank portion of the insole, securing the attaching flange-temporarily to the insole by cement, and thereafter while the clip is still in operative position permanently securing the attaching flange to the insole. I

4. That improvement in methods of lasting prewelt shoes the uppers of which have flanges to be secured in lasted relation to the insole which consists in working the forepart of the upper into lasted relation to the forepart of the insole, cementing the upper flange to the bottom of the insole, applying a- U-shaped spring clip so as to embrace the shoe with its ends substantially in the welt crease to force the shank portions of the upper into lasted relation to the shank portion of the insole, cementing the upper flange to the insole, and thereafter while the clip is still in operative position inserting fastenings through the upper flange and into the insole.

to secure said parts permanently together.

5. That improvement in methods of lasting prewelt shoes which consists in working the foreto the shank portions of the upper with the ends of the loop located substantially in the welt crease and with the plane of the loop substantially perpendicular to the plane of the shoe bottom to force such portions of the upper locally into conformity with the last at opposite sides of the shank, and thereafter securing the upper to the insole before the retaining member is removed from the shoe.

6. That improvement in methods of lasting prewelt shoes having insole-attaching flanges which comprises working the forepart of an upper into lasted relation to the forepart of an insole upon a last, applying a spring clip adapted to extend around the last with the plane of the loop substantially perpendicular to the plane of the last bottom and with its ends located substantially in the welt crease, the resiliency of the clip acting to force the shank portions of the upper into lasted relation to the shank portion of the insole, securing the attaching flange temporarily to the insole by cement, and thereafter while the clip is still in operative position permanently securing the attaching flange to the insole.

'7. That improvement in methods of lasting prewelt shoes which consists in working the forepart of an upper into lasted relation to the forepart of an insole upon a last, separating the ends of a U-shaped spring clip, applying the clip to the upper on the last with its ends located substantially in the welt crease at opposite sides of the shank portion of the upper and with the plane of the loop substantially perpendicular to the last bottom, releasing the clip to allow it by its inherent resiliency to force the shank portions of the upper into conformity with the insole at opposite sides of the shank, and thereafter securing the upper in lasted relation to the insole while said clip remains in operative position.

8. That improvement in methods of lasting prewelt shoes the uppers of which have flanges to be secured in lasted relation to the insole which consists in working the forepart of the upper into lasted relation to the forepart of the insole, cementing the upper flange to the bottom of the insole at the forepart, applying a U-shaped spring clip to the shoe with its ends substantially in the welt crease to force the shank portions of the upper into lasted relation to the shank portion of the insole, cementing the upper flange to the insole in the shank, and thereafter while the clip is still in operative position inserting metallic fastenings through the upper flange and into the insole to secure the parts permanently together, said fastenings being clinched in the body of the insole without penetrating its inner surface.

9. A device for use in lasting shoes comprising a resilient U-shaped loop, the ends of the loop being adapted to be separated and placed in the welt crease of a prewelt shoe upper upon a, last with the plane of the loop substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the shoe, the loop by loop of spring material, said loop being adapted to be placed about a last with its ends in the welt crease of a prewelt upper upon a last, the ends of the loop being each provided with fingers to engage the side of the upper adjacent to the welt and with a ledge adapted to engage the edge face of a strip sewed to the upper.

12. A lasting device comprising a U-shaped loop of spring material, said loop being adapted to be placed about a last with its ends in the welt crease of a prewelt upper upon a last, the ends of the loop being each provided with two fingers to engage the side of the upper adjacent to the welt and with a ledge between the fingers adapted to engage the edge face of a strip sewed to the upper.

13. That improvement in methods of lasting prewelt shoes which consists in working the forepart of the upper into lasted position, then applying a spring clip with its ends substantially in the welt crease to force the shank portions of the upper locally into conformity with the last at opposite sides of the shank, and thereafter while the clip is still in operative position securing the upper in lasted relation to a sole member.

14. That improvement in methods of lasting prewelt shoes which consists in working the forepart of the upper into lasted position, providing a spring clip portable with the last and having its ends adapted to enter the welt crease at opposite sides of the shank portion, engaging opposite sides of the shank portion of the shoe locally between the ends of said clip to force such portions into conformity with the last by the inherent resiliency of said clip, thereby tensioning the upper on the last, and thereafter securing the upper in lasted relation to a sole member.

15. A device for use in lasting prewelt shoes comprising a resilient metal clip portable with the last and having a pair of oppositely disposed jaw members, said jaw members being normally spaced apart a distance less than the width of the last at the shank portion and having inturned ends adapted to be sprung away from each other and engaged in the welt crease at opposite sides of the shank portion of a prewelted upper upon the last, the clip by its inherent resiliency acting to force the upper against the sides of the last locally at the shank portion.

JOSEPH FAUSSE. 

